Wish List (19 page)

“Does this mean we stay home and order pizza again?”

“No, it does not. Why don’t we take my Rover? If we don’t take my Rover then yes, we stay home.”

“I bet you want to drive, too.”

“Of course—it’s my truck.”

“Tell me something, do you lead when you dance?” Lex guffawed as he hopped into the passenger-side of the truck.

“Sometimes. If my partner has two left feet,” Ariel snapped. “In the back, Snookie.” The shepherd sat back on her haunches, barking loudly. “In the back, Snookie,” Ariel said, holding the door open. “She wants to sit in the front.”

“Now, why did I know you were going to say that?” Lex said, getting out of the car to allow Snookie to take her place in the passenger seat.

“Because you’re intuitive. Listen, I’m not embarrassed over this.”

“Hell, that never entered my mind.” He was still laughing. “Since we’re going in your vehicle, with you driving, and your dog in the front seat, am I to assume you’re picking up the check?”

“You expect me to pay, too?” Ariel asked in outrage.

“This is the 90’s. Women pay. This is one hell of a date, Ariel Hart.”

“Yes, it is. Do you want to eat in the car or sit at one of those tables? It’s kind of breezy.”

“I like eating in a car with a woman and a dog who knows how to fasten her own seat belt. It’s very romantic. Are we going through the drive-in?”

“We are unless you want to get out and go inside, in which case you’ll have to pay. It’s your call,” she said, swerving into the parking lot.

“The drive-in is just fine. I’ll have two Whoppers, two large fries, a Coke, and a milkshake. Whatever they have for dessert is okay with me.”

Ariel leaned out of the window to place the order. “Six Whoppers, hold the dressing on three of them, five large fries, three milkshakes, one Coke, and three apple tarts.” She slipped the Rover into gear and moved up to the take-out window, paid, pocketed her change, and said, “Do you want to eat in that parking space over there or would you like me to drive us somewhere?”

“I like eating in parking lots with a woman and a dog. I never did that before. They say everything in life is an experience,” Lex said.

“I’ve heard that, too,” Ariel said through clenched teeth. “You encouraged me to take this dog, so you need to take half the responsibility for . . . for this date.”

“Yes, I did. Did you hear one word of complaint out of my mouth? No, you did not. I even said this was romantic. So there. I do have a question, though. How are we going to do the ketchup thing with our french fries?”

Ariel sniffed. “You need to take some responsibility for this dinner. You figure it out.”

“I say we skip the ketchup.” Ariel looked in the rearview minor to see him grinning from ear to ear.

“Fine. But I like ketchup. So does Snookie.”

“Then I’ll open all of the ketchup packets and dump them in the Whopper box. Is that okay with you?”

“Three boxes. I like my own ketchup. I don’t like other people sticking their fries in my ketchup. Snookie doesn’t, either.”

“I hate that dog,” Lex said.

“Right now I do, too.”

“How are we going to get this relationship off the ground with that dog glued to you? Do you think there’s a way to outwit her?”

“No. She seems to know what I’m going to do before I do it. She’s very tuned to me. She loves me. I’m hers. It’s your fault.” She reached for the two bags of food and the tray with the drinks which she handed over the seat to Lex. She drove to a parking spot and turned off the engine. Snookie undid her seat belt, shifted her huge body, and leaned over the seat. Lex parceled out the food. The dog waited patiently for her box of ketchup, turned around, and sat down. “She’s a dainty eater,” Ariel said.

“I see that,” Lex said. Ariel clenched her teeth.

“Is this a fun evening or what?” Lex said as he stuffed a wad of french fries into his mouth.

“Damn right it is,” Ariel snapped. “I can’t remember when I had such a . . . nice date.” She exploded into laughter.

“I’m thinking of this as a test. Of what, I don’t know,” Lex said.

In the front seat, Snookie stirred and then fastened her seat belt.

“She’s ready to go,” Ariel said around the food in her mouth. If we don’t go now she’ll try to start the car and turn the wheel. She’s very smart.”

“I’m not finished,” Lex grumbled.

“Well, guess what? Neither am I?” Ariel said, her burger clutched between her teeth as she backed the Rover out of the parking space. Snookie woofed softly. “She likes to ride. Where to now?”

“You’re in charge. Drive me around until you get tired.”

“Then what?”

“Then what
what?”
Lex said.

“Then what and where do you want me to go?”

“I have an idea. Let’s go back to your place and hash over that conversation you had with Dolly the night you shot at me through your window.”

“That was a private conversation.”

“Maybe so, but it was about me so I think that gives me the right to hear all the parts I missed. Yes, that’s what we should do.” He pulled his legs up and stretched them out, leaning back with his arm over the back of the seat.

“Wrong!” Ariel said.

“Then drive me home. You’re no fun,” he said with pretended petulance.

“To Bonsall? You aren’t exactly a barrel of laughs yourself.”

“Don’t like that, huh? Okay, this is my best offer, my only offer, my final offer. Let’s go back to your place, rip off our clothes, and make wild, passionate love.”

“You got it!” Ariel said, making a U-turn in the middle of the road. Her ears felt warm and then hot.

In the back seat, Lex’s feet hit the floor. His heart started to pound.

In the front seat, Snookie barked, her ears going flat against her head.

“What’s that mean when her ears go back like that?” There was worry in Lex’s voice.

“That means she’s pissed off. I told you she’s smart. She knows exactly what we just said, and she also knows it doesn’t include her. Start thinking, and remember that she went through the front window. She might kill you. I wouldn’t want that on my conscience. Maybe some herbal tea. She likes that—it has a very calming effect. We could give her two cups. She’ll chew through the door if we don’t let her in the room.”

“I wasn’t prepared for an audience,” Lex said. “Maybe some brandy in the tea?”

“Absolutely not. I learned my lesson. We need a plan.”

“A plan is good.” Lex grinned.

“We’ll go up to my room, turn on the television. We’ll all have tea. I’ll make a whole pot. We’ll have a fire. She likes to lie by the fire. She’ll think we’re going to settle down. If we don’t make a lot of noise, it should be okay.”

“I’ve been known to roar like a lion. A lusty lion.”

Ariel swallowed hard. “I’ve been known to squeal a time or two myself.”

“We’ll work it out.” There was absolutely no confidence in Lex’s voice.

“I hope so. I’m in the mood.”

“Brazen hussy.”

“You better be worth all this trouble.”

“Define the word
worth.”
There was such worry in Lex’s voice, Ariel smiled in the darkness. “You made that up about those triple orgasms, right?”

“Nope.”

“I’m fifty-four.”

“I know. I’m going to be fifty-one. That means I’m just hitting my stride.”

“I never heard anything like that. How do I know it’s true?”

“ ’Cause I read it in
Cosmo
. Helen Gurley Brown is up on all that stuff. If you can’t believe
Cosmo
who can you believe?”

“I hardly know you. You can’t expect . . . perfection the first time out.”

“I am expecting it. Are you trying to say you can’t deliver?” Ariel wanted to laugh so hard she had to clench her teeth at the worry she saw on Lex’s face in the rearview mirror.

“I’m not saying that at all.”

“Good, ’cause we’re home.”

While Snookie did her last evening visit in the garden, Ariel prepared a pot of herbal tea and poured milk and sugar into separate bowls. “Do you take lemon, Lex?”

“No. I like milk in my tea. I don’t think I ever drank herbal tea.” He reached for her just as Snookie appeared at the kitchen door. He dropped his arms, picked up the tray, and said, “I’m just here to serve the masses.”

Giggling, Ariel led the way up the steps, Snookie in between them. In her room, with the door shut and then locked, she set about lighting the fireplace. Lex put the tea tray down on the hearth. Ariel spread out a champagne-colored satin comforter on the floor along with mounds of pillows. “Take your shoes off,” she ordered. “When you take off your shoes, she relaxes. She knows you aren’t going anywhere.” She kicked her espadrilles into the corner before she settled herself on the floor next to Lex. She poured three cups of tea, setting Snookie’s on the side. The shepherd drank daintily and waited for more, her eyes on both of them, watching to see if they were drinking. Three cups later, Ariel leaned her head into Lex’s lap. “It takes a while for her to nod off. Talk to me, tell me things about you I don’t know. Start with the day you were born,” Ariel said lazily.

Lex eyed the shepherd, who appeared as alert as ever. His own eyelids felt heavy as he muttered something about weighing seven pounds.

“That’s how much
I
weighed,” Ariel said. “My mother said I was a wailer, that I cried all the time because I had gas. I don’t think she wanted me. Once I heard her tell her friend I was a mistake. She never hugged me or kissed me, at least not that I can remember.” She sighed. “It was all so long ago. Nobody ever really loved me except two people. Dolly and . . . and . . . a friend of mine. Dolly still loves me and now Snookie loves me. I like the feeling.”

Lex yawned. It took him a few seconds to realize Ariel was sound asleep in his lap. He risked a glance at Snookie, who was eyeing him warily. He could hardly keep his eyes open. Maybe he should just close them and go to sleep. “I hate your guts. You know that, don’t you?” he said to the shepherd. “I don’t really. I love dogs, but you’re one big, king-size pain in the ass.”

Lex stared down at Ariel. She was so pretty in sleep, a golden-haired angel. His hands moved and he found himself tracing the outlines of her chiseled features. He stopped, not because Snookie growled, but because he remembered another time long ago when he’d done exactly the same thing. Again and again he allowed his fingers to trace the outline of her eyes, her chin, her nose, and then the whole of her face. It felt the same, perhaps a little larger, perhaps a little more defined, just the way it should feel because it was older. He wanted to wake her, to ask her if Ariel Hart was a name Hollywood gave her, but he didn’t. Snookie wouldn’t allow it. He wondered if Ariel had a birthmark above her elbow, a pinkish-brown mark. Holding his breath, he inched up the sleeve of her T-shirt. Maybe it was the wrong arm. His eyes on Snookie, he moved the sleeve on Ariel’s left arm. There was no pinkish-brown mark. But there was a faint scar the size of a dime. That in itself meant nothing. Even the contours of her face meant nothing.

He closed his eyes, the nerves in his stomach doing battle. He’d been drawn to this woman the moment he set eyes on her. He’d felt something. He sensed that she had, too. After all this time, was it possible he’d finally found his true love? It was about as likely as San Diego getting twenty-four inches of snow in August.

He slept, his hands cradling Ariel’s face.

Snookie waited until she heard his deep breathing before she lowered her head to her paws. Even then, she stared at the sleeping couple a long time before she allowed her own eyes to close.

The moment the lacy shadows of the early dawn started to creep toward the horizon, Snookie moved slowly, stretching her long, sleek, powerful body. Gently she nudged the sleeping man’s arm. When he didn’t stir, she did it again. She inched closer, her pink tongue swiping at Lex’s ear. She wiggled her ears when she heard him say, “Don’t stop, that feels so good.” The busy pink tongue worked its way down the side of his neck and then back up.

Lex cracked open one eye to stare directly into the shepherd’s face. He saw the pink tongue and realized the dog was waiting for him to do something. What, for God’s sake? Snookie nudged him again, first with her snout and then with her paw. Finally it dawned on him that she wanted to be let out. He carefully inched himself away from Ariel and got to his feet. Snookie trotted after him, waiting patiently while he unlatched the door. She looked back once. Lex stood rooted to the floor.

“Now what?” Lex whispered.

Snookie came back in and immediately dragged his shoes over to the chair. “Time for me to go, huh?” He watched as the big dog took his place on the satin comforter. “Gotcha. I know, this is a test. If I go, you’ll accept me easier next time. I’m outta here. I’ll leave it up to you to do the explaining.”

Lex tiptoed down the steps and went out through the kitchen. Right now he’d kill for a cup of coffee, but he had the feeling if he made any stops along the way the shepherd would be three steps ahead of him, somehow, someway. He couldn’t believe he was kowtowing to a dog. He let himself out the kitchen door then drove to an all-night fast food restaurant and ordered two cups of coffee. He sat in his truck, drinking and thinking.

Was it possible Ariel Hart was Agnes Bixby?
In your dreams
, Lex Sanders,
in your dreams
. How could he find out without actually asking her point-blank? If he did, and she wasn’t Agnes, she might laugh at his devotion to a memory. He didn’t think he could bear that. Maybe she didn’t want anyone to know her background. So many things fit. She spoke of a friend in her youth, but never named the friend. He remembered how Aggie told him she was a mistake, and that her parents didn’t love her. He remembered the feel of her face against his hands. Was it possible? Anything was possible.

Lex finished the coffee and headed for Bonsall. He had to remember he had a ranch to run, business to take care of.

At eight o’clock he was on the road again. His first stop was at his attorney’s office, knowing Colin worked a seven-day week. “Colin, scratch the divorce. I changed my mind. Send me a bill.”